[Alex/Ravi] - what is my life

[healspec]

Who: Ravi & Alex; 2nd thread open to LSR staff
What: ~*Vermini Swarm*~
When: July 17th, Wednesday
Where: Ravi's apartment; 2nd thread @ LSR clinic



Ravi tried not to think very hard about what was going on. He accepted the presence of the network in his life, and he accepted the strange memories the same way he might accept an oddly realistic dream. He didn't try to analyze them, or figure out why they were there, or rationalize them away with logic. He might question the holes in any explanations presented to him, but that was just to make sure the holes were holes. Maybe it was all real, or maybe he was just slowly going crazy, but it seemed unwise to settle on either conclusion just yet.

That perspective had proven difficult for Alex to understand, so he'd avoided discussing it ever since their fight the week before. He'd opted for the time-honoured tradition of pretending everything was perfectly normal and there was nothing weird whatsoever about this new standard in his life.

Wednesday evening saw him out on the balcony of his second-story apartment, smoking a cigarette and leaning on the railing to look out over the unimpressive view he had of the property behind the apartment complex. Maybe he was trying to spot Gomez on his way back. Mostly he was just letting his thoughts clear and trying to de-stress a little.

Comments

[amberhearted]

What sounded like a parade of chicks chirping up a storm started filtering in from all sides, but before Ravi could even think to consider wayward poultry, the walls and rails surrounding him were enveloped in a moving, black mass.

It was a swarm of Vermini and they appeared to be paying a personal "fuck you" to Ravi's attempt to de-stress.

The Vermini on either side continued scaling the side of the building while those that had come directly from below tried to scale the railing. Quite a number of them spilled throw the gaps and onto the balcony floor, skittering this way and that -- some into the potted plants and others less 'blessed' slamming into the glass door.

Meanwhile, Alex was in the shower and blissfully unaware of any of this nonsense -- at least, until he got hit with the familiar sensation of an Echo.

[healspec]

The chirping caught his attention, but the Echo hit him immediately after and momentarily distracted him from seeking out the source. The distant pulsing drowned out the chirping for a brief moment.

Somewhere in the peripheral of his consciousness he noted the black mass encroaching over the bar of the railing. It was another second or so before he snapped out of his fugue and realized what he was looking at. He recoiled with a startled cry, shock and then disgust coming over his features. It went right back to shock when he realized that the cockroach-sized things swarming his balcony were not in fact cockroaches, or indeed any other sort of recognizable insect. They reminded him of an illustrated storybook's depiction of fairies--the dangerous kind.

And they were everywhere. Holy fuck.

Rather than stick around to get a better look, take a picture, try to catch one, basically confirm their existence at all--he instead dropped his cigarette and staggered a quick retreat to the balcony door, which he threw open, slid through, and slammed shut. He pressed his back against the glass, eyes wide, breaths heaving.

Yup. Crazy. He was definitely, without a doubt, crazy. Because he did not want to live in a world where that kind of thing happened for real.

"Alex?" he called out, a note of desperate panic to his voice.

[amberhearted]

Ravindra's abrupt movement sent the Vermini into a tizzy. The black swarm separated into individual balls of hair as each Vermini ran this way and that, around, under, and over each other. One was unfortunate enough to get caught in the door as Ravi slammed it shut. It promptly turned to steam, letting off a soft pssh that was hardly audible over the high-energy chirping.

Under running water in a closed room, Alex didn't hear Ravi at all. He smothered his face with his hand and dragged it down, wondering what had prompted the Echo.

[healspec]

He didn't see them disperse. He assumed they would still be out there, his imagination providing the image of the glass door covered in a teeming black mass behind him.

"Alex!" he called again, louder this time. But he could hear the shower running and he realized it wouldn't be heard. He ran to the bathroom and gave the door three solid bangs, glancing down the hall over his shoulder as though fearing the creatures had followed him in and would be coating the walls now. They weren't. It wasn't as much a relief as he'd have liked.

What could Alex even do about this? He didn't know. He wasn't thinking in practical terms right now. He was panicked and all he knew was that Alex had been a part of this longer than he had and might have some explanations. Even if not, the mere presence of another human being could ground him and be the difference between calming down and escalating into a panic attack.

[amberhearted]

The first bang startled Alex so badly he jumped. As the second and third went off, he was already turning off the water and stepping out of the shower, grabbing his towel and wrapping it around his waist as best as one could in haste.

What if the Echo had been caused by one of those Cousin Its?

"What?" he asked, pulling the door open. He looked not at Ravi, but past him for any signs of danger, but the position of the bathroom didn't afford him anything but the hallway and their bedroom doors. He turned his attention onto Ravi instead, brows pinched in concern. "What happened?"

[healspec]

There was a surge of relief when Alex stepped out, even though that made no logical sense. There was no reason to assume he wouldn't have.

Rather than try to explain, Ravi grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the living room. Once they were there, he flung an arm out to indicate the balcony.

...There was nothing out there. Not even the slightest hint of the gigantic swarm he'd seen just seconds ago. He stared at the empty balcony, dismay and confusion overtaking his face.

[amberhearted]

He didn't protest, though he did keep his other hand near his towel in case it threatened to slip off.

He stared at the balcony that had been so dramatically indicated, then glanced at Ravi. From his expression, Alex could tell something else was amiss.

"Was something out there?"

[healspec]

"Yes," rushed out of his mouth, accompanied by an overwhelming sense of relief that Alex didn't just blow him off and assume he was being strange. "There was a--a--" He suddenly couldn't remember the right word for 'swarm' in English. He gestured with his hands in a frustrated, but futile, attempt to capture the idea. He finally settled on the closest word he could think of. "A cloud of things, like bugs but shaped like people."

[amberhearted]

He couldn't pinpoint when Ravi's words slipped from clear to distant, gradually losing their separation from one another, nor could he determine when his vision started to blur. His eyes unfocused. Bursts of colors, like suddenly closing one's eyes after looking into a bright light spotted his vision.

When the heartbeat of an Echo had resounded in him, his own heart had begun to slow. Now it was still.

He lost consciousness.

at LSR Clinic

[amberhearted]

It occurred to him, as the car door clicked shut behind him, that bringing a corvette into the Dead District at this time of night was not, perhaps, the wisest idea. Alex didn't have the heart to share this opinion with Ravi. He may have still been sullen about having to go to a doctor, may have still been in a state of shock over his abnormality, but he was also now aware of how strained it must have been for Ravi not to lose his shit in the apartment or during the drive. He didn't want to encourage him to lose it here, either.

He didn't take the lead, not wanting to increase his metabolic rate any more than necessary out of some bizarre and wholly irrational feeling that if it rose too high, he might just keel over for real this time. Resigned, he followed Ravi inside the clinic.

[healspec]

Ravi was aware that parking a hundred-thousand dollar car in the Dead District was a bad idea, but there wasn't much he could do about it given the circumstances. He parked it in a well-lit area as close to the clinic as possible, made sure anything even remotely valuable-looking was stowed in the glove compartment, and set the alarm when they got out. He would just have to hope that was enough.

That knot in his chest had resolved itself into a strange and unfamiliar warmth behind his heart. He wasn't sure whether to be worried about it or not. It wasn't painful, it was just sort of there. The closest he could think to describe it was the feeling of drinking hot cocoa on an empty stomach on a cold winter morning, that kind of gentle warmth from inside.

Maybe it was cancer. Who fucking knew with cancer, right? They were walking into a clinic anyway, he could ask the doctor to take a quick listen and let him know if it seemed like he was about to keel over.

It was easier not to worry about it when he had Alex to worry about instead. He focused on that, for now.

He led them inside, holding the door open for Alex and entering behind him.

[scramasax]

There was a car parked outside the clinic when Mrs. Bakura drove close.

On Anthony's part, that made him feel significantly better for asking her to take him through the Dead District on short notice with the sky beginning to get dark, his own now-accustomed ease at the start of sunset aside.

They stopped. Anthony pulled the handle on the car door and stepped out on stiff legs with a backwards shuffle to do justice to a thank-you, and, with a humble nod and smile, closed it, made his way to the door.

He found himself pausing to inspect the door. He gave the handle a rattle, to test that it was unlocked. He wasn't afraid, or even worried, distinctly. Alex had reported that his heart had stopped and he was fine for it; with that assurance he was at a loss for anything to adhere anything clearer than uneasiness.

He was certainly curious - if morbidly so.

Finally he gave the door a more decisive push and edged into the interior of the clinic, head uncertainly down and eyes scanning for presence - tensing chill; please, let there not be anyone "else" here...

[healspec]

Unfortunately for Anthony, there was someone else here, and no Alex in sight. Ravi sat in the lobby, waiting while the doctor saw his friend. He was tense and worried, both immediately apparent by his hunched posture and the way he stared intently at the floor instead of finding something to occupy himself with.

He glanced up when he heard someone enter, but only briefly. Not long enough to take note of any of Anthony's particular oddities, just long enough to note rough shape and apparent gender. His gaze returned immediately to the floor, but he was listening.

[scramasax]

So there was.

On the glance, something inside Anthony jumped and he had the thought in a flicker that he should've come in with his hood on - once eyes were off him he pulled it over and turned with shoulders tensed and back further defensively slouched to face parallel to the wall, keep his face partly hidden.

Sense then had room to work in. There was only that one unrecognized car in front of the clinic. Alex had said as much that he was being given a ride.

Anthony turned his head half to the seated man, angled a bit for caution although he had no idea what effect it'd have for obscurity from the man's position.

"Excuse me... -- Are you - Vin?" Slight vibration of nerves. "By any chance."

[healspec]

His head snapped up and then turned toward Anthony, both movements small but sudden shifts with a second's pause between them. He didn't look fully at Anthony, more in his general direction without lifting his eyes far enough to see his face.

There was a slight hint of distaste on his face at the nickname. Alex was the only person he allowed to call him Vin. Unfortunately, that meant anybody who knew him through Alex only knew him by that nickname.

"Ravindra," he corrected. "You're a friend of Alex?"

[scramasax]

"I'm sorry -- " he murmured with a trace flinch - it immediately passed for a little flash of relief and near involuntary mutter of "Good..." Vin was Ravindra; he had, indeed, come with Alex.

"I -- am. ...My name's Anthony -- " Timid, reflexive little twitch of a smile and nod and turn to face Ravindra further in just a few degrees. His hand darted up to pull his hood on more firmly on one side, to compensate, in a bit of a fidget; he paid it no conscious attention.

" -- Alex - sent me a message -- telling me what happened." Eyes floated to one wall, then the one adjacent it, then he willed them back in the vague direction of Alex's friend. "That's why I'm here -- if it's all right."

[healspec]

"It's fine." Normally that was just his go-to response for questions he didn't feel like giving a real answer to, and while there was a degree of that in play here, it was mostly genuine. If Alex had asked him to come, Ravi wasn't going to tell him he couldn't be here.

Anthony. Usually he repeated a name to try to commit it to memory, but he didn't bother tonight, which meant he'd probably forget the boy's name in a few minutes.

"He is being seen right now," Ravi explained, glancing toward the door that led to the exam rooms. It was even softer than his usual tone of voice, slightly mumbled. In conjunction with his accent, it may have been easy for the words to get lost between hearing and understanding.

[scramasax]

"I - see," Anthony said, look casting off in the same direction.

He hadn't indeed consciously caught the exact words spoken - but the expression was clear, and gave him a fresh stir of misgiving; he hadn't been asked to nor had he announced that he would make it here. As long as the case was as it was - the person for whose sake it was couldn't approve it - as far as anyone was concerned he really shouldn't be here.

Here he was, then, to hold fast and wait - alone within the presence of someone from whom he had little to no idea what was and should remain secret. Sense continued to float and condense - Ravindra obviously knew the cause of what had brought them here. To assume anything of a person whose name and face he couldn't seem to draw from on the network still felt too much like creeping blind through a fog.

Anthony considered a couple of testing questions and let them all go before they could be worded - didn't know what would be too vague or too damning. His will for now left him doing nothing but turning around, and pacing along the wall the opposite way before leaning against it on his shoulder in move to make himself respectfully unobtrusive - he'd wound up with his back mostly to Ravindra, in fact, for some uncertain sense of security while restlessness dragged his attention to the door, to the center of the lobby, back to the other side, and to the door again...

[elfstoned]

Aaron was ready. Ushering Alex into the operating room, the first thing Aaron did was lie him down and check for a pulse --

-- and found none.

Shit. Hadn't circulation been restored? He spared just a moment to glance at Ravi, questioning, but only a moment.

"Get his shirt off," he instructed, going for the defibrillator and charging it.

[amberhearted]

If anyone was paying attention to Alex's face just then, they would have been treated to a comical display of dismay.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, no," he said, pushing himself up, one hand held up in the universal 'hold up' sign. His eagerness to avoid the defibrillator was so great he hadn't thought to move slowly for his fractured ribs and paid the price with a momentary spike in pain--

-- that would be nothing compared to the kick that machine would give him if they actually used it. That was all the motivation he needed to suck it up and quickly say, "No defib. I am way too awake for that. No."

[healspec]

It was a shock for Ravindra to realize he knew this doctor. He'd heard the name thrown around before, both from people at the hospital and on the network, but it hadn't occurred to him that it would be the same Doctor Strider as the one he knew. The world was a big place, after all.

And yet a smaller place than he'd expected.

Nobody could blame Strider if he failed to recognize Ravindra. The last time they'd met, Sergeant Savarna had a crew cut, a clean shave, and a set of DCUs on. When Strider failed to show recognition, Ravi opted not to say anything. There would be time later. Right now, the focus needed to be on Alex; he wouldn't distract from that.

When Strider went for the defibrillator, Ravi winced. He set a hand on Alex's shoulder, encouraging him to lay back down. He wouldn't argue if Strider thought it might work, but he should probably have the full picture first. "He hasn't had a pulse for at least fifteen minutes now."

Yeah, Alex, he straight-up lied when you were leaving the house. He'll admit that now.

[elfstoned]

"...well. That does change matters, doesn't it?"

Aaron looked from one of them to the other, mouth pressing shut as he set the defibrillator back down. "When you went into cardiac arrest," he said, turning to Alex, "did you experience an unusual sensation beforehand? A feeling of hollow-ness, and a pulse through your whole body?"

[amberhearted]

WHAT.

Resisting Ravi's encouragement to lie down, Alex turned his incredulous look on him, betrayed. It might have been funny except that it wasn't. How the fuck could he even be thinking about how the fuck this was even possible if he didn't have a pulse?

With great reluctance, he turned his attention back to Aaron when he spoke, lips pressing together in a thin line.

"Yes. Well, no. Before. But basically, yes." He thumbed at Ravindra. "He saw something on the balcony."

[healspec]

Ravi kept his hand on Alex's shoulder, but kept his eyes on Dr. Strider. He had a pretty good guess what sort of look Alex was giving him right now. He didn't want to face it.

The question--the description, more specifically--sparked recognition in him. He'd felt it too, right before he'd noticed the bugs, or...whatever they were. So far, for him, that feeling had always been accompanied by a memory, so he hadn't yet connected it to the physical sensation of the warmth in his chest.

The fact that Dr. Strider knew about those did explain why Alex had insisted on being seen here instead of a hospital.

Alex's response threw the burden of conversation onto Ravi. He picked it up and elaborated. "It was a large number of small black things, like bugs but..." An uncertain pause; it sounded crazy and he knew it. "Human shaped."

[elfstoned]

Dr. Strider didn't seem surprised at all. "I see." He looks at Alex. "You're not the first to undergo this sort of physical change -- nor even the first to come to me with symptoms that should have killed you." His manner is cool, calm if not relaxed. "What I can do for you is going to be limited, I'm afraid. I'm going to treat your other injuries, give you a general physical exam, and run some blood tests. If you wish, I can also attempt to re-start your heart." He nods at the defibrillator.